The Seed and the Story: The Familiar is Fascinating.

Lillie Burdine with her knitting at the Boone County Fair, photo by her granddaughter, student Lacey Vanderpool.

The school semester is over and last week my students turned in their final projects and presentations for their community-based research. It was a short class, with little time to create an in depth research project. But even in this short period of time they were able to document some of the oral histories and folkways of which they were already aware—things like family traditions, community festivals, and oral histories. Some of them introduced me to things about this region I knew little or nothing about. Others addressed topics with which I was familiar, but opened my eyes to new layers, helping me understand more about these living traditions. So I thought I’d share a few of them here.

One student brought in a detailed photo album of his family’s four generations of quilting. His accompanying paper addressed how the craft allowed his family to bond, share family stories, and pass down precious heirlooms. Another student explored the folklife of Plainview, touching on the important, and often under-discussed, topic of school consolidation and the drastic changes it can bring to a community. Another student studied Culture Day at his home church in Mississippi, a tradition begun during the civil rights movement to honor African American culture in the community. Another student interviewed his family about the three generations of woodworking, noting that everyone in the family was “smart with their hands.”

And then there were the students who turned in papers about family foodways, documenting how to make generations-old banana pudding or chicken and dumplings. That might not sound like an important topic on the surface, but by documenting these tradition and making the recipes along side their family members, they began to learn more about their family’s history, stories of life during the Depression, and how recipes can help people connect with those that have long since passed from the earth.

Still others touched on college-based traditions like the culture of ATU football and basketball, highlighting the role these traditions can play in bringing teams together. And another student, who had recently begun knitting, spoke with her grandmother about how she learned to knit, discovering that when access to yarn was difficult, her grandmother would collect clumps of wool caught in the barbed wire, spinning it to make her own (see photo of her grandmother above).

The thing about folklife is that initially it can seem so obvious, so simple. What could anyone possibly learn from such everyday stuff, people often wonder. Or why do any of these old ways even matter, younger people sometimes ask. But scratch the surface of your family’s favorite recipe, or the history of, say, your grandmother’s chicken house and you’ll quickly find countless layers of stories and meaning, an intricate web that binds us together through family, community, landscape, and history. The stories we discover are sometimes heart-warming and sometimes unsettling. We learn about birth and death, success and terrible hardship, human kindness and human prejudice. Whatever we find, there is no doubt that exploring such everyday things sheds new light on who we are and can help us think about who we want to be. After all, as I rediscovered through reading these class projects, a study of one family history can illuminate everything from economics to ethnicity. A person’s garden can open up a door to discussing Native American ancestry. A study of a family farm can lead to information about the building of Arkansas Nuclear One.

In closing, since we’re still in the month of May I’d like to mention that for a few years now I’ve been documenting the tradition of Decoration Days in the area. If you or your family takes part in this tradition, I’d love to hear about it, see your photos, and learn more!

Monday Music: “Black is the Color,” Nina Simone, 1969

It’s a wonderful day for Nina Simone.  But then again, every day is a wonderful day for Nina Simone.

Here’s an amazing live version of “Black is the Color of My True Love’s Hair.”

Friday Video: The Winding Stream: The Carters, the Cashes, and the Course of Country Music.

The Carter Family. From the Winding Stream.

The Winding Stream: The Carters, the Cashes and the Course of Country Music, a film by Beth Harrington, is now in post production!

It’s impossible to overestimate the influence the Carter family had, and continues to have, on country, roots, and traditional music. Mother Maybelle’s guitar playing revolutionized the instrument and she popularized the auto-harp, as well. Their songs have been covered by countless musicians off all genres and all of their recordings are still in print today.

There’s been much written about the Carters and the Cashes, but this is the first film to trace and explore all aspects of their continual influence in the world of music. Here’s a short synopsis from the film’s webpage:

Starting with the seminal Original Carter Family, A.P., Sara and Maybelle; this film-in-progress traces the ebb and flow of their influence, the transformation of that act into the Carter Sisters and Mother Maybelle, the marital alliance between June Carter and music legend Johnny Cash, and the efforts of the present-day family to keep this legacy alive.

The film features interviews with Johnny Cash (who granted an interview shortly before his death), Roseanne Cash and the living Carter family members, as well as performances by roots musicians like the Be Good Tanyas and Jay Farrar.

Beth Harrington is also the producer of the film Welcome to the Club: Women in Rockabilly, which received a Grammy nomination in 2003.

To complete post production they’ve turned to Kickstarter to help raise some funds.  Check out a few of the previews below.  And, if you feel so inclined, help them out with their project. This is such an important story! To visit their Kickstarter page click here.   And if you’re a Twitter user, you can subscribe to the film’s tweets, which tell the story of the Carters in one tweet a day!  Check it out there.

And here are a few of the clips available via The Winding Stream’s webpage.

The North Carolina Chocolate Drops:

And here’s a pieced-together song circle featuring several musicians singing “Will the Circle Be Unbroken.”

The Seed and the Story: Channeling the Tradition of Gleaning

Gleaned potatoes. Photo from the Society of Saint Andrew.

The Seed and the Story is a weekly column exploring folklife, sustainability, oral history, human rights,and community in Yell County, Arkansas.   The column is published in the Post Dispatch and is syndicated in the Courier.  Please remember to support your local paper and independent media!  The Seed and the Story column is just of many features you can find on the Boiled Down Juice.  Follow us on Facebook and Twitter.  If you enjoy our posts, please tell a friend. And thanks for reading.

As the days grow longer and the afternoons warmer, Arkansas’s agricultural fields are beginning to grow and produce food for our tables.  This week’s column focuses on the ages-old tradition of crop gleaning and the role it can play in today’s society.

First, some background information.  A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to visit with Representative Kathy Webb, the recently named director of Arkansas Hunger Relief Alliance.  With a 27.6% poverty rate throughout the state, Arkansas ranks six points above the national average.  According to a recent USDA survey, Arkansas is third in the nation for instances of food insecurity, meaning that a significant number of Arkansans, especially vulnerable populations like children and the elderly, are unsure where their next meal will come from. Access to fresh fruits and vegetables are especially difficult, as these tend to be some of the most expensive items in the grocery store.  In some areas, it can be hard to find fresh food stocked in the stores whatsoever.  The Hunger Alliance addresses the multiple layers of poverty-based hunger through several channels, including the ancient tradition gleaning.

Gleaning refers to act of collecting any leftover crops from the fields after it has been commercially harvested or collecting crops from fields where it is no longer economically profitable to harvest, due to factors such as low market prices. In some studies it is estimated that around 40% of the crops are wasted after a commercial harvest, withering in the field.  Through the process of gleaning, these fresh foods are gathered and then transported via food banks and distributed to the hungry, providing people with nutrient-rich food and preventing the needless waste of crops rotting on the vine.

The concept dates back thousands of years, with mention of this practice documented extensively in both the Bible and the Quran.  Typically gleaning is referred to as leaving the edges of the field un-harvested for the needy, travelers, and widows. Here’s an oft-quoted verse from Leviticus 23: 22 regarding the practice in Jewish society: “When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest.  Leave them for the poor and the alien.”  Drawing from its Biblical roots, this practice was also common in Europe throughout the 18^th and 19^th century and provided countless peasants with food to sustain their families.

Here in Arkansas, since the summer of 2008, the Arkansas Hunger Alliance has worked in partnership with the Society of Saint Andrew, a national non profit whose mission is to provide hunger relief and save excesses fresh produce to donate to critical feeding agencies.  To make gleaning effective, the agency relies on volunteers—everyday people, church groups, and organizations who are willing to denote their time to gather the crops for distribution.  In recent years they’ve also partnered with the Department of Corrections, which has increased the gleaning yields exponentially.  The year before they began working with the Department of Correction they gleaned 289,000 pounds of food, says Michelle Shope of the Arkansas Hunger Alliance.  The following year, with the help of the Corrections Maintenance Crew, 800,000 pounds were gathered.   With the help of both volunteers and the Department of Corrections, they’ve gathered 1.9 million pounds of food in the past four years. Their goal is to reach six million pounds a year, helping to eradicate childhood hunger.

If you or your church or community group is interested in taking part in this ancient tradition of gleaning, you can contact Michelle Shope at 501-399-9999 or mshope@arhungeralliance.org.  If you’re a farmer and want to have your field gleaned, contact the Society of Saint Andrew at 1-800-333-4597 or visit them online at www.endhunger.org.

Do you take part in the tradition of gleaning?  What are some historic examples of this practice here in the river valley?  I’d love to hear about them.

Monday Music: Sam Amidon “Tribulation”

Photo from Uprooted Music Revue.

Today’s Monday Music comes from Sam Amidon, a folk singer from Vermont whose reinterpretations of traditional music are layered both with familiarity and an eerie sense of deconstruction.

In an interview with Uprooted Music Revue Amidon explained his craft this way: “Well, I’ve never actually written a song. What I do is take old folk songs from one source or another – a children’s singing game from the Georgia Sea Islands, a New England shape note hymn from the early 19th century, or a North Carolina folksong from Dock Boggs – and then I sing it for awhile and maybe rework the music and change it around. ”   To read the interview click here.

Here’s an excellent song, “Tribulation,” from his second album (which has one of the best album titles ever), But This Chicken Proved False-Hearted.  

Friday Video: Preview of Anne Braden: Southern Patriot

Earlier this week, on May 1st, International Worker’s Day,  Appashop released the film,  Anne Braden: Southern Patriot.  Produced by Anne Lewis and Mimi Pickering, Appalshop describes the film as a ”feature length documentary exploring the remarkable legacy of this grassroots organizer, committed journalist, civil rights leader, movement strategist, social chronicler, public intellectual, teacher and mentor to three generations of social justice activists.”

Braden made her home in Kentucky and was branded a communist and seditionist for buying a house in Louisville for an African American family during the Cold War 1954.  Throughout her life she worked toward, as Media Database says, “awakening the consciousness of whites to the legacy of racial injustice, and demonstrated that racism is a social construct that can be deconstructed.”

In this short clip Braden says, “I never knew anybody who really got active because of guilt.  Everybody I know that’s white that’s got involved in this struggle got into it because they glimpsed a different world to live in.  . . Human beings have always been able to envision something better…All through history they’re have been people who have envisioned something better in the most dire situations.  That’s what you want to be a part of.” 

Here’s a three minute sample from the producers.  Follow their facebook page to keep up with all the showings.  If anyone is interested in providing a space to view the film in Little Rock, please contact us! We’ll provide the organizing if you can provide the space! 

Anne Braden: Southern Patriot (1924-2006) — 3 minute sample from Anne Lewis on Vimeo.

The Seed and the Story: Visiting Decoration Days: A Pilgrimage to Arkansas from California

Photo from Karen Alexander-Stoeckel of her Grandma, Ocie Hance-Alexander (in blue dress) with her brothers and sisters at the gravesites of their parents, Greeny and Dora Hance. Needmore Cemetery, Arkansas.

Beginning this weekend people throughout the area will engage in the decades old tradition of Decoration Days, placing flowers on the graves of their loved ones and transforming the cemeteries into vibrant landscapes of color.  The very first column, which ran in May of last year, was about this tradition and how it can connect families and communities across generations, reminding us that, as long as we keep their stories alive, the dead are always with us.

I asked others to share their stories and a woman here in Arkansas mailed the column to her niece, Karen Alexander-Stoeckel in Cambira, California.  This past week Karen contacted me by email to share her beautiful story, and she said I could share it with you all.

Her father Virgil “Odell” Alexander was born in Casa in 1929 to Robert Alexander and Ocie Hance-Alexander, and as a child he “loved to hunt in the hills with his coonhounds and bring wildlife home to tame as pets.”  At the age of five, he picked cotton to supplement the family’s income, later working in a lumber mill near Petit Jean. In 1953 he moved to California where he began work in the dairy business. He and his wife had five sons and one daughter, Karen.   Here is how she describes her relationship to Decoration Days:

My brothers and I were born and raised in California and Arkansas seemed like a distant planet to us.  The stories my daddy shared with us were rich with lessons he had learned and the love of his Hance and Alexander family.  As children, we only made a few trips back east to visit our grandparents because Daddy’s work schedule was so demanding.  I remember the well on the back porch of Grandma’s house and how cold and sweet the water was.  The fireflies in her front yard were a sight I’ve never seen anywhere else. 

The letters from home were precious to my daddy.  He prized the photos that his mama would send every year that were taken on Decoration Day at the Needmore Cemetery.  Photos of relatives in their Sunday best and women wearing corsages , standing or sitting near grave sites that were splendid with flowers.  As a child I did not understand my daddy’s fondness for these pictures of grave sites and was too young to appreciate the culture they derived from.

Grandma and Grandpa are gone now and so are the letters and photos from home on Decoration Day.  The relatives who gathered in those old pictures are also gone or soon will be and the love of my life, my daddy, passed away last October.  My brothers and I are having a memorial service for him here in California and then I will be bringing his ashes home to Arkansas where he requested they be laid to rest.

When I come to Arkansas, I will be attending my very first Decoration Day at Needmore Cemetery and words cannot express how emotional I feel about being near so many of my family laid to rest there.  Because of the oral history my daddy passed down to his children, I will not merely be reading names on headstones but remembering that my great-great grandfather, John Henry Alexander was remembered as being able to “sit a good horse” and walked every day down to the general store with the aid of his cane to enjoy talking, whittling, chewing tobacco and in general passing the time of day.  I have gathered bouquets of Lavender from my back yard and I have them drying to take with me to Needmore Cemetery to be lain in honor and respect to all those who lived before and are now rejoicing with my daddy.

I’m bringing my camera too.  Like my dear grandmother of years past, I intend to share and cherish these photos with my family in California. My daddy’s legacy of home and family lives on through my nine year old granddaughter who recently stated that if given any place in the world to visit, she chose Arkansas where my Papa is buried.

She signed the email, “Looking forward to visiting your wonderful state and celebrating Decoration Day soon.” What’s your Decoration Day story?  What does the tradition mean to you?  I’d love to hear from you, see your photos, and share your stories with readers.  And I am so honored Karen allowed me share her beautiful story here.

Monday Music: Ora Cogan “My Sweetie Went Away”

From http://www.psychedelicfolk.com/

Today’s Monday Music comes form music and visual artist, Ora Cogan.  

She’s involved in several folk/experimental projects including  Agnostic Mountain Gospel Choir, The Be Good Tanyas, Rio en Medio, Daniel Lercher and Anni Rossi. She also co-founded Cornerstone, an A’cappella gospel quartet with Frazey Ford (of the Be Good Tanyas).

Here’s a nice little video of her singing in a car.

Visit her on Bandcamp by clicking here.

Friday Video: Respect Yourself: The Stax Records Story.

From PBS.

While in Memphis for the Folklorists in the South retreat we visited the amazing Stax Museum and heard a little bit about working behind the scenes at the museum from Levon Williams, curator of collections.  The visit to Stax was inspiring, and an excellent example of the power of music to work toward change.  So this week’s Friday Video is a trailer from PBS’s 2007 Great Performances presentation, Respect Yourself: The Stax Records Story. 

Stax was amazing for many reasons, especially its integrated approach to music in the same town where sanitation workers were paid less-than-human wages, leading to the Sanitation Worker’s Strike which was linked to MLK’s Poor People’s Campaign.   In addition to the genre-altering and community-building music, they also produced documentaries like the Wattstax concert and documentary in Los Angeles,  a film, according to PBS POV, that “captures a heady moment in mid-1970s, “black-is-beautiful” African-American culture, when Los Angeles’s black community came together just seven years after the Watts riots to celebrate its survival and a renewed hope in its future.” To enable everyone a chance to attend, tickets were sold for only a dollar each.  On many levels Stax was a movement a gave birth to a new form of music, soul music,  a raw and transcendent blend of gospel, blues, country, and jazz.

Here’s what PBS says about Stax and this film:

The legacy of Stax Records is a unique one that spans more than half a century. Stax Records is critical in American music history as it’s one of the most popular soul music record labels of all time – second only to Motown in sales and influence, but first in gritty, raw, stripped-down soul music. In 15 years, Stax placed more than 167 hit songs in the Top 100 on the pop charts, and a staggering 243 hits in the Top 100 R&B charts. It launched the careers of such legendary artists as Otis Redding, Isaac Hayes, Sam & Dave, Rufus & Carla Thomas, Booker T, & the MGs, and numerous others. Among the many artists who recorded on the various Stax Records labels were the Staple Singers, Luther Ingram, Wilson Pickett, Albert King, Big Star, Jesse Jackson, Bill Cosby, Richard Pryor, the Rance Allen Group, and Moms Mabley.

But Stax Records was more than just a label. It was a culture. While segregation was fervently supported in the South during Stax’s formative years in the 1960s, Stax was one of the most successfully integrated companies in the country – from top management and administration to its artists. With more than 200 employees, it was the fifth-largest African-American owned business in the United States during its time.

Teachers should take note that this film comes with a lesson plan including assignments that help students to both identify genres of music and the role Stax played in the community.  Check out the lesson plans by clicking here. 

For more information on the film and viewing options click here.  

Folklorists in the South Retreat: A Recap of Sorts.

A very blurry Blind Mississippi Morris and Brad Webb at the Center for Southern Folklore in Memphis.

This past weekend I had the opportunity to speak at the Folklorists in the South retreat, a gathering of folklorists, cultural workers, and art agencies from around the south and beyond.  I was incredibly honored to be invited to speak about my work with intergenerational, participatory media, community building and the McElroy House, and other media projects.

The event, sponsored by both the Mid-America Arts Alliance and South Arts, included two days of great discussion, learning, and contemplating.  The focus of this year’s retreat was creative economies—how to define them, how to utilize them, and the larger role they play in communities both large and small.

In addition to our talks and panels, we also toured Stax Museum (Love!!) and the National Civil Rights Museum (an amazing and inspiring place).  We were also treated to some amazing music from Blackberry Winter band and Blind Mississippi Morris and Brad Webb at the Center for Southern Folklore.  

I came away from the weekend with a better understanding of how I want to approach funding goals at the McElroy House and a renewed dedication to keeping the operation grassroots and sustainable.  Most importantly, I came away with a host of new things I want to share with readers.

Early next week I’ll discuss some of the policy and funding topics presented by both South Arts and Mid-America Arts Alliance, members from both of which gave extremely educational presentations about the resources available to communities. I’ll also touch on some of the great information Lorraine Cashman provided regarding web developments at American Folklore Society.  But perhaps best part of the retreat was the opportunity to meet so many new people and hear about all the great things they’re doing in their own communities. It’s endlessly inspiring to hear the backstories of how organizations came to be and how their sustaining their work.

I shared a panel with the super-talented folklorist and radio producer, Rachel Hopkin, whose work we’ve featured on the blog a few months ago.  She made some great points about the role of local media versus national media and played clips of some of her wonderful programs.   Also on our panel was the multi-talented Steve Grauberger of the Alabama Center for Traditional Culture.  He discussed his work interviewing traditional artists for a local radio production as well as the numerous music compilations they’ve created over the years.  In the near future we’ll be posting more about this program and highlighting some of their work.

One of the most inspiring presentations was from Sarah Rucker of Texas Folklife discussing the Big Squeeze, a Texas-wide youth competition for accordion players.  She discussed how the competition promotes and supports the tradition among youth, helps youth connect with this tradition in their families, and often promotes a strong support network among players.  What I liked most was her discussion of how this festival developed from living community traditions rather than a top down, tourism-based approach.  The inter-generational appeal of the festival was especially enlightening.  Much more on this great project in the very near future!

I also met Bruno Seraphin of Kazoo Films, an inspiring artist exploring grassroots action and community.  I especially love how Kazoo films describes their venture: “Kazoo Films generally embraces a “do-it-yourself” approach to film, building, borrowing, doing work trades for, or simply doing without many of the things for which larger production companies spend big bucks. The kazoo is the instrument that anyone can play!”  How great is that?

Seraphin attended the retreat to screen his film, If I Had Wings to Fly, described by the producers as “an independently produced narrative feature film exploring and celebrating traditional music, dance and storytelling in Western North Carolina, as well as the joys and sorrows of being young and directionless anywhere.” Unfortunately the film was scheduled to show on Monday night and I had to leave before then.  But we’ll be posting more about the film in the near future and hope to feature some clips.  It’s always interesting to see how others conceptualize their work, and I especially love how Kazoo Films describe themselves as “interdependent film makers, that is, the project was the combined work of many hands, imaginations, hearts and minds from different communities in the region.”  Love this distinction. More on the Kazoo Films in the near future as well.

And it wasn’t just the presenters who brought inspiration.  I also got a chance to meet with Jen-Jen Lin of the Chinese Arts Alliance of Nashville and hear about their great work with arts and youth in Nashville and speak with Betsey Peterson, the recently named director of the American Folklife Center.   Additionally I got to hear about the great work of Roby Cogswell and the Folklife Program at the Tennessee Arts Commission, including som excellent publications. In the coming weeks I’ll feature posts about each of these folks and their great work.

Until then here’s a few photos from the retreat taken by myself and Steve Grauberger.  Extra special thanks to Steve for allowing me to use some of his photos here!

Jen-Jen Lin of Chinese Arts Alliance of Nashville and Steve Grauberger of Alabama Arts Alliance. Photo from Steve Grauberger.

Van Colbert and others playing after the Blackberry Winter show.

Roby Cogswell of the TN Arts Commission and Levon Williams of Stax Records. Photo by Steve Grauberger.

At the Columba Retreat Center.

Marideth Sisco, Van Colbert, and Blackberry Winter band.

Lorriane Hotel, site of MLK's assassination, National Civil Rights Museum.